Friday, February 15, 2013

When the bosses came to me with the idea of a locally shot reality series featuring characters from the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina I was all in.

My first assignment, spend 2 days riding with an Animal Control officer, see what you get, and produce 5, 2 minute stories and a 15 minute special. No problem.

I spent 16 hours riding the streets of Guilford County and Greensboro with Alexis Bennett, a well seasoned Animal Control Officer in Guilford County, who also happens to be quite the character.

I shot 7 hours of footage with my JVC-750 and 2 GoPro HD Cameras.

After about 60 hours confined in the edit bay - not in a row - but over the course of about 2 weeks - I had all the segments ready to air. One story in the 6 O'Clock news every day and a 15 minute special on Thursday at 10:45.

Next up - Another Reality Special - "Treasure or Trash" - with an even shorter turn around time. Let's Go!

Here's the 2 part 15 minutes special. (which clocks in at 12 and a half minutes.)

Thursday, January 06, 2011

As a photojournalist I put my self into situations where I may get hurt. That comes with the job.

From flying in stunt planes to hanging off the back of a car to get the low angle tire through themud puddle shots...not to mention those side of the interstate Live Shots or that sliding on the ice stuff I pulled off a few weeks ago.

But the silliness that ensued today beats just about all I've ever seen...and I got an up close look....you be the judge....

We were there to check out the condition of the horses on this man's land. We had received tips about the horses not being fed regularly and living in bad conditions so we went out there Wednesday with a local elected official and a representative from the U.S. Equine Rescue league.

The Equine expert has been trying to get local law enforcment officials to charge the man who owns the horses with neglect so the Equine League can seize the horses. But according to the Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney the horses have water and shelter and every time they've checked there's been food there too.

That's all well and good except for all the good people of the area who feel sorry for the horses and feed and water them....and other neighbor's say this man shows up everytime he gets wind of an impending investigatory look.

There are some water barrels on the property and who am I to say the man doesn't feed his animals. That's why we were there, early in our investigative process, to see if local authorities had taken a close enough look, to keep the officials in check.

So today we went back out there to see if the horses had water or food today. The horses had been given water.(we think the local elected offical and the equine rescue lady gave them the water)...but there was no ssign of any food.

A few minutes into gathering some Day 2 video the man shows up....he has the bucket and the stick. He had been tipped off by a neighbor that we were there.

I knew when he jumped out of the car I may be in trouble....all I could think is...."Uh, Oh...this is gonna hurt."

He swung a few times hitting me on the lower right leg calf muscle and then on my camera lens as he swung the stick higher.

He left this mark on my leg...It's a nice bruise...but otherwise I'm fine.

He was charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Damage to Property. He was arrested and given a $5,000 bond.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Back in 2006 I was lucky enough to be the local TV Pool Photographer when President George W. Bush came to Greensboro. (Read about it HERE)

That ranks up there as one of the coolest things I've ever done. I rode in a van in the motorcade following the leader of the free world from event to event, standing just feet from him in some instances to capture the moments on video.

On Monday I was assigned again to cover the President. This time President Obama was arriving at PTI to visit Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem.

My duties this day were soley to provide LIVE video to my staion of Air Force One's arrival and departure and if possible shoot a story for the evening news. The logistics of the day and security mandates by the secret service made the latter an impossibility.

Our day started at 6AM. I picked up the Live truck and Intern Carolyn at the station and we parked at PTI and gave our morning show several LIVE pictures as the hue of the skyline went from dawn to day.

By 8 we were in full security clearance mode, being told where we would stand and when by the plain clothed officers responsible for keeping the President on-time and alive.

Logistical silliness aside it was the Frigid Temperatures that posed the biggest obsitcle. Never rising above freezing and accompanied by a winter wind for the ages, there were times when my thigh muscle felt like a human vibrator as it tried to keep my core temperature at sustainable levels.

Live through Obama's arrival and the motorcade departed, we were allowed to take a breather in the warm confines of the ComAir break room. The fun started all over again when the President was on approach for departure.

Live for the departure was much quicker. Obama jumped on the plane and the 747 rolled out. Personally I think the pilot of that jumbo jet would make a great truck driver after seeing that wide right turn he made to get that thing off the tarmac and onto the runway.

And just like that we had to pack up our equipment and we were done.

Except I had another shoot lined up in just a few hours and my day was still 4 hours from done.

Other than the excitement of seeing that 747 and the President, it was just another day.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

As a news photog deadline approaches faster than a runaway train in a Hollywood Blockbuster and when you add a Live Shot to it you may as well fast forward to the end of the movie.

Our Live Shot Location was farther from the truck than I had extension cords (or time) to run, and my on camera light was convienently not with me in the live truck so in a flash of - WTF do I do now - I zip tied a handheld, battery powered, spotlight to the umbrella pole on my light kit.

That whole mess started 4 hours earlier.

When water began spewing steadily out of the ground on a main thoroughfare today in Kernersville I was quickly dispatched to the scene.

I was less than a mile away...doing an interview at town hall with the Mayor about the passing of a former Mayor. My quick arrival made for an easy grab but as I disected the situation I determined I'd better get more than the obligatory 15 seconds of spray....no pun intended.

After about 20 minutes shooting every conceivable angle I made the call...and told the desk it would be a great nightside story....they could do 5 an 6 o'clock live shots during rush hour because it was only 2 and the roads were already backed up.

I stowed my gear and drove the footage back to the station. As I was loading that footage and the other 2 stories I had shot earlier I was given my next assigment. Drive the 20 minutes back to the watermain break with a reporter for 5 and 6.

With the traffic at a standstill and me sitting on the exit ramp at 4:52 I knew making the top of the 5 was a no go. But I didn't want it to be much later. I pulled from the right turn lane into the straight lane and passed all the traffic bottled up because there was only 1 lane feeding the rush hour beast today.

I made the right...right across the bows of cars coming from the right and the left....threading the livetruck into a space my Explorer shouldn't have fit.

I didn't look for any fingers...or listen for any horns...I had the parking lot nearest the gusher in sight. I set up the truck. Dialed the IFB. And we were on at 5.....12. First story in the B-Block.

We did it again at 6....with my rigged up light kit. It was pretty flawless. The crews were just getting ready to get started digging. They had to work all night.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I't been a while - too long. Twitter, Facebook and work in general have kept me away...but I'm back.

You may know that we just went HiDef. The pictures here are Sheeka and I on her second and my first HD Live Shot after the transistion.

We are now shooting, editing and broadcasting news in HD. We've been shooting and editing HD for a few months now but on Sept 12th our new set went online along with the technical equipment to push HD out of the building.

The process has been long, arduous and I understand it cost a bunch of money. It's actually good to know that the parent company is forward looking and wants to make the effort to keep it looking good.

We cackled and grumbled about the size of the new cameras but I have to say (other than a quirk or two here and there) that pixel for pixel and pound for pound this camera is putting out the best picture in this market. Sure, I'd like to have a better lens, but the only other lens they make for this camera costs more than the camera itself. Oh well.

About TV Photog Blog

Chris Weaver is an Emmy, Murrow and NPPA award-winning veteran Television Photojournalist who has spent 16 years shooting, gathering and editing every possible type of video footage you can imagine.

Chris began his career in 1993 at a video production company in Wilson, NC shooting news for a local cable Newscast. In 1997 he went to WXLV ABC 45 News and then in 1998 to the (then a Fox O&O) WGHP Fox 8.

Outside of his full time duties as a News Photojournalist Chris tackles freenlance video projects on a part time basis. www.ChrisVideo.com.